Timely reminder on skirting the dreaded holiday weight gain

This column first published on Nov. 17, 2004. It's safe to say, with the food-centered holidays upon us; this is a message worth repeating. Don has made some ingredient changes to bring the recipe up to date.

When you gaze into your crystal ball, do you see yourself on New Year's Day smiling because you fit comfortably into the same clothes you're in right now?

That scene doesn't have to be a figment of your imagination if you work out a holiday survival strategy.

In the next five weeks, we'll be tempted by the season's best, virtually erasing the dietary promises we made just days ago to be good this year.

We've learned from the past and can use it to our advantage. We know at which holiday get-togethers our taste buds will face a temptation to the point of dismantling all our good intentions so we can plan to avoid last year's dietary descent.

A promise-keeping strategy that works well for me and has for more than a decade is to eat something in my regular food plan before I leave the house for a celebration that involves tempting holiday fare.

I've found that when I'm hungry, I make bad spur-of-the-moment decisions. Just as going to a grocery store on an empty stomach and without a list leads to poor purchasing choices: “Hmmm, how did I plan to fit these chocolate-covered graham crackers into my weight maintenance plan this week?”

Keeping healthy foods in the house can help you resist temptation later.

Pears, for example, are in stores right now and will be for weeks to come. Two-percent cheeses have never tasted better and contain healthy appetite-suppressing calcium. So, before getting ready for your shindig, sit down to a fresh pear and an ounce or two of cheese. By the time you get to that party, taking smaller portions or graciously turning down something (like that omnipresent nut-crusted cheese ball) will be easy.

For sit-down holiday meals, I always let my plate be my serving-size guide. Almost all dinner plates have an interior rim that creates a circle smaller than the outer edge of that plate. I fill my plate to that inner rim, carefully choosing servings since I have limited space on my plate. Do not layer upward — that's cheating.

Last year I tried something new and intentionally ate holiday meals with a smaller salad fork, instead of the larger dinner fork. It forced me to slow down, and I found myself satisfied by meal's end every time. No need for seconds and no one seemed to notice my silverware switch.

Finally, share a dessert with at least one other person, and enjoy a cup of black coffee at the same time. I am always surprised how good an ultra-sweet dessert tastes after a swallow of good coffee. By splitting a dessert, I can limit those calorie-dense delights, and that coffee seems to bring on a sense of fullness more quickly.

Knowing your personal history will help you create your promise-keeping strategies and get you through the holidays without worrying about feeling like a 10-pound Knackwurst in a 5-pound casing when trying on that new sweater that was supposed to be “just your size.”

Try this recipe: Green bean casserole has always been a Mauer family Thanksgiving favorite. I don't mean the one made with canned green beans, cream of mushroom soup and topped with fried onion rings. This year instead of serving my casserole for dinner, I'm using it as the base for leftover turkey. Here's the recipe.

• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at don@ theleanwizard.com.